may be urged, from repeated experience, that, when France has been engaged in a Continental war, she has not been able to attend to her navy, and has given up all thoughts of invasion.

The present British force in the Electorate of Hanover is estimated at 22,000 men-a force, though considerable in itself, yet far beneath what is absolutely necessary to supply the wants of our allies, in the event of Continental war; and it will require the whole of the force originally destined to be sent to the Continent to render it adequate to that service.

From this statement, it may be reasonably concluded that either the present force should be augmented for the purposes above-mentioned, or that the whole should be withdrawn, as, in its present state, its services would be ineffectual, to our great prejudice, and without any adequate advantage to our Allies.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Harrowby.

F.

Downing Street, January 14, 1806. My dear Lord Harrowby-Having apprised his Majesty, through Colonel Taylor, that I had lost no time in putting you in possession of his Majesty's determination not to enter into any arrangement with Prussia for the custody of Hanover; and Colonel Taylor, in his answer, having expressed his Majesty's satisfaction that instructions had been conveyed to you to that effect: in order to guard against any future misunderstanding on a point of such delicacy, I thought it right to address the letter to Colonel Taylor, to be laid before the King, of which the enclosed is a copy, explanatory of the sense in which alone I had felt myself competent to make any communication to you upon a point of this nature, and to which letter I annex, in confidence, the answer I have received from the King.

I own I cannot but doubt the prudence of his Majesty's decision but this is altogether a question of Electoral policy,

and upon which, if anything should be said to you by the Prussian Cabinet, I conclude you will refer them to his Majesty's Hanoverian servants.

I am, &c.,

CASTLEREAGH.

List of the Eight Transports employed on the Continental Expedition, which have been wrecked.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Cathcart.

Copy. Downing Street, January 19, 1806. My dear Lord-In consequence of the despatches yesterday received from Berlin, it has been thought right to renew more pointedly the orders for the return of the troops. These letters were dated as far back as the 6th; but their contents, in addition to everything before known, leave us no room to expect that the politics of the Court of Berlin will, in the interim, have assumed so totally new a form as to induce your lordship, either, under the former instructions, to make use of the latitude given to you, or, in the present instance, to take upon

yourself to suspend the execution of the orders which now receive, till the King's further pleasure is known.

I was much disappointed to learn, by an extract of a despatch from Count Münster, communicated to me by Mr. Best, the Hanoverian1 chargé d'affaires in London, that the recruiting of the Legion had been suspended. There is no point we have had more at heart than to augment that corps during its stay in Hanover; and I have to request your lordship will take the most effectual steps for withdrawing the Legion in the utmost possible strength, with the rest of the troops in the British pay, from the Continent.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Cathcart.

Downing Street, January 20, 1806. My dear Lord-Your lordship's despatches, No. 5 and 6, have been received, and laid before the King. Under the instructions transmitted to your lordship, bearing date the 8th and 12th of this month, as applied to the line of conduct which the Court of Berlin appears to have pursued, his Majesty entertains no doubt that your lordship will have already taken measures for the return of his troops to this country.

The despatches, however, received yesterday from Lord Harrowby and Mr. Hammond describe the language and conduct of the Prussian Government to be so unsatisfactory and mysterious, that his Majesty cannot hesitate in repeating his decision that the army under your command should be reembarked for England without further delay. His Majesty is the more confirmed in the pressing expediency of this measure from the weak state of the Prussian corps in Westphalia, and the very equivocal answer returned by General Kalkreuth to your lordship's note of the 29th of December.

In the event of the navigation of the rivers being obstructed by ice, it will be for your lordship to consider in what position

1 Hungarian in the MS. I suspect a like error in the name of the chargé d'affaires.-EDITOR.

the army can for the moment be most safely placed, with a view to its being embarked so soon as the frost disappears, or to its further retreat, in case that should become necessary. I am, &c.,

CASTLEREAGH.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Cathcart.

Downing Street, February 4, 1806.

My Lord-I have received your lordship's letter, dated Bremerlehe, the 23rd ult., which has been laid before the King.

Lord Harrowby has arrived in England, and I learn, by a note from his lordship, that, previously to his leaving the Elbe, your lordship had received my despatch of the 19th January, conveying to you his Majesty's pleasure that your lordship should lose no time in embarking the troops under your command, and in directing them to proceed to England by divisions. And his lordship further stated that he understood the first embarkation was to take place on the 28th of January. This intelligence afforded me much satisfaction, as it confirmed to me that your lordship entirely understood the purport of my despatch, and was acting upon it with the utmost expedition in your power.

I was perfectly satisfied with the arrangements which your lordship appears to have made to enable you to embark the troops with celerity so soon as you should have decided upon that measure; I am particularly to state that the dispositions you have made for securing the embarkation of the whole of the German Legion and its depôts have received his Majesty's entire approbation.

From the state of the wind, I am expecting the arrival of the first division with daily anxiety, and I have no doubt it will be followed by the remaining divisions in as short a period as the weather will permit.

EXPEDITION AGAINST THE CAPE OF
GOOD HOPE.

1805-6.

There is little to add to the details of this expedition given in the following Correspondence. The armament having, on its way to the Cape, put into San Salvador, in Brasil, for water and refreshment, proceeded for its destination, and on the 4th of January, 1806, anchored off Robben Island, at the entrance of Table Bay.

This important Colony, which had been restored to the Dutch in compliance with the treaty of Amiens, was not surrendered without a battle, which cost its defenders 700 men. The loss of the assailants was 15 killed, and about 190 wounded. The despatches announcing this conquest were received at the Admiralty on the 27th of February, 1806.

Lord Castlereagh to Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote. Downing Street, July 20, 1805. Dear Sir-I was prevented from writing to you yesterday, as I wished. I find the Admiralty, under an impression that it was intended to adhere to a former purpose of sending the troops embarked at Cork under your orders, in the first instance, to Madeira, there to wait for further instructions, have